A tip-off helped police identify a murder victim two years after his remains were found by children playing near their home, the High Court in Belfast heard yesterday.
A Crown lawyer said police were alerted in February 1996 after human bones were found at Derriaghy, Co Antrim.
A five-day search uncovered enough bones to enable doctors to reconstruct an almost-complete skeleton, said the lawyer.
Detectives were told the remains were those of a woman and never thought to link the discovery with a man reported missing six months previously.
The remains were later identified as those of Mr Timothy Sullivan (21), from Ballycraigy, Antrim.
Mr James Shaw (22), from Dromara Park, Lisburn, was charged with murder and remanded in custody.
He applied for bail yesterday and the application was opposed by the Crown lawyer on the grounds that there was a strong circumstantial case against him.
The lawyer said police received information that Mr Shaw had told another inmate in a Young Offenders Centre that he had killed Mr Sullivan in August 1995, the day after the pair of them were in court on a robbery charge.
It was alleged that Mr Shaw said he killed Mr Sullivan with a hammer because he had "touted" to police about the robbery.
The information led to a second post mortem which showed that fractures of the skull and jaw bone were consistent with being struck heavy blows.
The lawyer said Mr Sullivan's identity was confirmed by dental records which matched fillings in two teeth in a jaw bone which was found during the initial police search in 1996.
A lawyer for Mr Shaw said he denied completely any involvement in the murder.
Bail was refused by Lord Justice Campbell.